The curse of Indian TV writers

We are all familiar with the curse, aren't we? The story starts with an amazing cast, an interesting premise and a promising pace. But one thing leads to another and out of nowhere we realize somehow ghosts have become involved and... and did the lead female just turn into a FLY??

I am not talking about fantasy shows. I swear.

Till date, one of my biggest complaint is the introduction of ghosts in Zee TV's Jodhaa Akbar. I just loved that show, but towards the end I found myself wishing it to finish soon. And that is not the only show I got fed up of with time.

So what is it that turn favorite serials into most hated ones? Yeh hai Mohabbatein, Kumkum Bhagya, Kundali Bhagya, Ishq Mein Marjawan... all such current shows once enjoyed huge fan following but are now filled with disgruntled viewers. Is the reason lack of originality? Repeated plot points? Or is it the combination of those?

Lack of Originality

Amnesia? Brought back from dead? Double role out of nowhere? Plastic surgery? Leaps? Love triangles? Marriage swaps? Evil mother-in-law? Violent husband changed after marriage? Seen all of it a hundred times. Recently, it seems surrogacy and extra marital affairs are also joining the long line of been-there-done-that. Every show seems to be copying from every other one. Things have reached to such a point that viewers seldom believe any character to be really dead. Mani (Yeh Hai Mohabbatein), Shagun's husband and Ishita's close friend was shown murdered in his home. A few sequence later, the dead body was revealed to be Mani's lookalike who has never been mentioned before. The real Mani was kept kidnapped somewhere... and the viewers believed it. Because it was not the first time that such a convoluted plot was used in a show. And it certainly wont be the last. Earlier, the sign of a damaged face on a dead body signified possibility of return of the character. Now even undamaged faces are no guaranty that the character is really dead. Applicable to all shows.

Lack of variety

There is a frequent complaint that the youth prefers American shows to Indian ones. One look at the variety on offer and you wont need to fathom after the cause. A high school chemistry teacher who starts producing meth? A serial killer who kills other murderers while working in police department? Two brothers fighting demons and ghosts while figuring out the cause of their own mother's death years ago? A show filled with dragons and ice zombies but also intense political intrigue? Medical dramas, detective dramas, comedies with different premises, fantasies... and what does Indian shows offer in comparison?

Looking at the current lot of shows. 

Savitri Devi (Colors) started out as a medical drama where the main lead was also supposed to right the wrongs done to her dead father. That soon changed into a romance drama, kitchen politics, marriage plots and currently features some ghost plot. That's right. Ghosts. In a medical drama. 

Naagin (Colors) is the most popular fantasy show in Indian television. While the first season was all right and had a plot with real twist, intrigue and amazing lead actors, the subsequent seasons kept deteriorating in quality. And the plots (if existing) are nowhere near complex.

Ishq Mein Marjawan (Colors) started as psychological crime thriller. Today the plot is over convoluted, half the mysteries are forgotten, chracters are being introduced and killed randomly and we even got a plastic surgery. Phew!

Shakti (Colors) was supposed to deal with the plight of transgenders. But the plot dealt with repeated separation of Harman and Soumya while sometimes making a statement. And now both leads are suffering from amnesia!

Aap Ke Ajane Se (Zee TV) was supposed to deal with love between persons of huge age differences. Yeh Teri Galiyaan (Zee TV) started on the premise of lives of people born and brought in red light areas. Many other shows had interesting premises but stuck in the same rut of leaps, amnesia, misunderstanding or completely giving up the premise. Dil Se Dil Tak (Colors) was about a surrogate and her relation with the couple. But the wife died, the surrogate married the husband and everyone kept referring to the surrogate as the real mother. 

Some supernatural shows have now appeared on the horizon. Qayamat ki Raat (Star Plus), Nazar (Star Plus), Kaun hai? (Colors) and Mayavi Maling (Star Bharat) have joined the Naagin bandwagon. But its too soon to pass a verdict on them. Historical dramas were a rage at one point with Prithviraj Chuahan, Jodhaa Akbar, Chandragupta, Ashoka and Chandra Nandini all enjoying huge popularity. (essentially building up Rajat Tokas's career!). But for some reason cliches like separation of leads, forced marriages, lookalikes and ghosts abound here too. The comedy genre fairs a little better. There are a few shows dealing with Hindu mythology and shows with Muslim characters in lead are also coming up. But the scene still lacks fresh ideas and variety doing little justice to the diverse Indian society.

Lack of realism

In a fictional show, there is always some creative liberty and suspension of disbelief. I am not even talking of fantasy genre here. But the police being incompetent in every damn show? The main leads, usually the female, solves everything from kidnapping to fraud. The leads even argue cases in courts while the lawyer sits mute. 

And the female lead is some all forgiving, all understanding, loving, caring superwoman! No matter how many times she is accused by her in-laws, not supported by her husband or thrown out of the house, she will still come back willingly despite having a job (or so it says) and being independent. I am still waiting for the day when a daughter-in-law will prove herself right and then ask all the in-laws to go to hell! And how stupid the in-laws have to be to keep doubting the one daughter-in-law who saves them from danger single-handed on numerous occasions? 

Then there are the super evil characters. Sisters turning on sisters for some minor reason (Imli on Chakor and Ragini on Swara). Sisters ruining the lives of their brothers (Simmi against Raman and Aliya against Abhi). Close relations and values that humans generally regard all thrown to the wind for plot convenience. Characters sometimes using there mind or being outspoken, sometimes stupid and meek as and when required.

Lack of logic

One common sentence that is often heard - "this is TV show, don't apply logic". Well, I am not going to apply the laws of physics. But what about common sense? A recent episode of Kumkum Bhagya featured a chandelier falling on Pragya, hurting her grievously. That incident had everyone wondering who might have done it, while the entire family knows that Aliya and Tanu had tried killing Pragya a number of times before. But no one doubts them. In Udaan, Chakor foolishly decides to trust Imli every time and Imli always back stabs her. And the less said about logic in the show Ishq Mein Marjawan, the better. Even Bepnnah, a show appreciated for the organic handling of mature themes, had viewers puzzling over the obsessiveness with which a CBI officer pursued Zoya and Aditya despite not having any concrete proof. And the scene from Saath Nibhana Sathiya where Gopi Bahu washes a laptop with water and then hangs it to dry is quite viral by now!

While the protagonists are fighting all odds, the villains seem to have unlimited resources. How easy it is for a normal person to hire kidnapper repeatedly, or get poison, or change DNA reports, or hide evidences, or always kidnap the doctor's young daughter in the nick of time in order to blackmail her into lying? Ever. Damn. Single. Time.

Viewing such scenes again and again where the viewer screams at the screen for the chracters to use their brains are nothing but frustrating.

Some positives

The over dramatization of certain scenes, loud music, focusing on faces repeatedly during 'shocking' revelations and villains always having an upper hand have been mocked enough.Yet Indian TV soaps continue to enjoy wide viewership with even overseas fans. There must be some reason right?

After giving this topic a good thought, that why do we go back to stale stories again and again, I think I have finally found the reason. It's the amazing casting that producers always manage to land upon! Be it the famed chemistry of Rittik-Shivanya (Naagin Season 1), Pragya-Abhishek (Kumkum Bhagya) or Ishita-Raman (Yeh Hai Mohabbatein), viewers always tune into their favorite shows with the hope that today maybe the pairs will finally have some respite.

Also, while the writers and producers keep bungling up repeatedly, the actors usually do a fabulous job. Even if the overall story doesn't sell, they make individual scenes believable and their hard work shows. If only they got the creative team their skills deserve!